Malicious Game
by litlemiko
Summary: Drawn to his mesmeric fortress on pain of death, kagome becomes his captive, his caged bird. with her very life at his fingertips, will kagome find the peace that was lost, the life that was stolen from her, or is it all a game. A malicious game.(Nar&Kag)
1. Unshed Blood

_Hello people this would be my second fanfiction and though i loved writing my first one, i think i am going to love writing this one better. now first things first, i have some expectations for this fic. it is going to be as dark and gloomy as i cam make it and as deep and long as i can too. BUT, i have to have 10-15 reviews before my next post which is chapter 2! i love writing this kinda stuff but i also like not doing it in vain, so, you know what that means. and finally as a last reminder... i really don't own inuyasha... and this is the only time i will say this thanks,_

_littlemiko_

_Prologue:_

All control was lost.

She was blindly running to somewhere.

The call was getting stronger, she was close.

Her body screamed to leave her be, but the dark aura drew her anyway.

The sharp rocks, and what looked like broken bones, cut her feet, the nerves screaming to nurture them but she couldn't stop.

She had to keep going.

Her pain ended now.

A sharp branch tore at her tattered kimono, adding another memento to her scarred arms and legs.

And finally out of the mist a dark and mysterious castle drew itself up. The miasma contained inside the barrier was enough to kill the strongest demon, but this small human shrugged it off. She had been breathing this toxic waste since her half of the jewel fell into the hands of this sinister demon.

She could ignore the plea-filled cry of the jewel no longer. Since the jewel fell out of her hands and into the hands of that despicable demon, her purifying powers were growing black with the malice he was draining into her jewel. She stopped feeling the sunlight as it danced across her face. All she could feel was the dark miasma surrounding her. Every breath was lethal to her body, often leaving her breathless and clammy. All she could hear was the high pitched screaming of a soul in pain.

Her soul.

Her jewel.

And so she came here.

To end her misery.

To get her soul back or die trying.

An inch long cut graced her leg, appearing there on its own accord.

She fell to her knees in pain, sharp rocks imbedding themselves into her knees.

Stiffly she picked herself up and dragged her broken feet to her death inside the main courtyard, the accursed gate closing silently behind her.

He was awaiting her.

Beckoning her to try him. He was wickedly amused.

Once inside she went right to work knowing that she didn't have too long before naraku found her, and killed her with one grip on her soul.

But it was a failed plan.

As he tightened his grip on her soul, she screamed his name, voice filled with hatred and malice.

"naraku!"

The cry fell onto deaths ears as she drew her bow one last time. Energy gathered at the bloody tip of the arrow as she launched it into the darkness, its color blending with its surroundings completely. The bow and quiver rattled on the ground, the only noise from miles around, and sat there unmoving as their owner clutched her heart and withered onto the ground, wishing upon every dark force tying this fate to her that it would let her go, to die in this hell on earth.

But it seems that the fates had other plans.

For as the unconscious girl lay in the courtyard, her jailor came out holding her soul in his hands. And as he regarded her strangely, he picked up her fragile, tortured body and turning silently returned into the fortress.


	2. the depth of pity

_Like i said before 10-15 reviews or this story will not go on... thanks_

_Littlemiko_

_Chapter 1:_

There was a tunnel glowing in the distance. She ran towards it knowing full well what this sign meant. But she couldn't reach it, she knew this sign too well also, but that didn't stop her from detesting it. Slowly everything came into focus.

A small candle burned in the corner of the room. But that was all that inhabited the span of her vision.

She moved her arms. Besides them being stiff, they were alright, the wounds healing.

In the silence of the room she could hear the noise of something rolling away as if it were a pack of elephants.

She reached out and felt the item that had escaped her vision. It was a pole.

She grabbed it and forced it upright switching it from her left hand to her right. And, moving her grip towards the top end she heaved herself up.

As her world tilted at a sharp angle, she clutched it, gaining support. Finding the odd object sturdy, she used it as a cane to force her weak body towards the door. She had to get out of wherever she was, because she knew that torture awaited. Nothing was safe any more.

After what seemed like half her lifetime, and after spilling a fair amount of blood all over the floor, she finally reached out and grasped the screen with one hand. Throwing all of her weight against it, she pushed it out of the way, thankfully without falling over.

Looking to the left, she saw utter blackness. It was a hallway for sure, but there was no light whatsoever. A faint chuckle and a bright light at the corner of her vision, brought shivers up and down her spine, her body stiffening on impulse. She had to kill this minion of naraku just as much as he for all the pain they've caused her.

Forcing herself to calm down and to not appear frightened, she turned to face the wind demon and the void with one word.

"kagura..."

the stagnant air surrounding her started to move as kagura opened her fan slightly.

"Ah, so at last we meet."

The wind in the small corridor started moving faster.

"Maybe you should go back into the room and finish healing, naraku would be disappointed if you died easily during torture."

She could tell that kagura was looking at her bloodstained robe. Gaining strength, she reeled in her breath as she abandoned her waking stick in favor of a weapon.

The pain was excruciating. Every part of her screamed to just comply and take the beating later. Just to sit down and fall asleep. Peaceful sleep. She whipped her stick around in a circle three times before her hands settled in position equal-distance from the midpoint. Taking clumsy, uncertain steps towards kagura she readied herself for a long and grueling defense.

Kagura winced as the girl didn't comply with her wishes. Before naraku disappeared he instructed her and kanna not to lay a finger on her. This was going to be difficult.

The first strike the girl countered was dealt by a sword that danced itself off of the wall. She easily blocked all of the blows as if they were given without heart. The wind did not decrease though, making it hard to concentrate on the flying sword.

All of a sudden the wind died, and the sword gave its final blow, successfully cutting her pole in half.

Through the black dots wavering in her vision, the girl smirked. This made things much easier on her. Before the wind sorceress had time to regain her wind attack, the girl shifted her hands to fit the sticks position and attacked.

She had no idea what force drove her to such madness, weather it was the knowledge that freedom awaited past the two, or the intense training she had received through the past few years of her life. Catch an enemy in their weakest point. Whatever the case, she attacked kagura who could only counter at such close range with her metal-tipped fan.

Kagura called out to kanna as she was backed into the wall. The girl, who had forgotten about the void, abandoned her attack and tried to move her attack towards both demons. Kanna, with no expression appearing on her face, she sucked the sticks out of the girls hands into her void. Kagura then grabbed the thin air remaining in the corridor and threw the girl towards the other end of the corridor. Their job fulfilled both demons turned and headed in the opposite direction.

The girl's last fleeting feeling was a dusty door giving way and falling down a rotting fleet of steps before unconsciousness took her.

Naraku awoke still in his human form, his demons lying in a bloody mess around him. His lone head shivered as a draft hit him. Painfully, he opened his eyes and looked towards the steps where the once locked and barred door stood, now lying on its hinges. His vision wandered towards the step half knowing what happened.

He wasn't surprised when he found the young girl unconscious, sprawled on the bottom three steps. She looked dead. Her skin was sickly pale, the thin white robe she had on before was barely noticeable with the amount of crimson blood spilled. Her long black hair was fanned out above her, tips grazing the black blood that surrounded him on the floor. One hand covered her heart, an attempt to block the pain with a shield, while the other was carelessly thrown above her, fingers also dipped in his blood. He couldn't help but feel his lifeless and cold heart wrench somewhere nonexistent. Sending out a snake-like demon, he gently picked her up and brought her closer to him. Even as a human, the smell of her death was intoxicating. if someone didn't help her, she would die. He didn't know why that thought coursed through his brain at that moment but he didn't like it. He needed her to die. She was a nuisance anyway. Another one of his demons wrapped itself around her prone neck, ready to squeeze at any moment. He couldn't kill her. She was too beautiful. Better just lock her in a cage and make her suffer until she suffocated from his poison.

Unwrapping the demon from around her neck, he set her lying down on a voluminous bed of blood and half dead demons. His strength exhausted. He fell once again into a half sleep, hoping and wishing that she would not wake until his demon form returned.

_It was right in front of her, that accursed tree that she had to find on that day two years ago. It was spiteful serendipity that she found it at all. At the time everything seemed so inconsequential that she hardly minded at all. Looking back on that day everything seemed so peaceful so irrevocably _there_ that she almost believed that time had actually been turned around. She could reach out and touch them, Sango. Shippo. Miroku. Her fingers slipped on the filmy photo paper of her mind. And slowly they went up in flames. __Relentless flames that consumed the village. Smoke billowing to heaven, as the beautiful spring day drowned in darkness. As she saw this she wanted to close her eyes for she new what came next in this nightmare. The thing she had been seeing for days since the betrayal. It wasn't the love lost that she mourned for, it was the blood. The waves of blood that threatened to consume her. Blood waves upon a dead beach, the red sea parted. _

She awoke with a start, gasping as her surroundings slowly came into focus.

Her whole body hurt but she knew better than to cry out.

She was in death's gateway and needed all of her angels with her. Painfully she forced her muscles to contract helping her roll over. After she succeeded in pushing herself onto the edge of the demon nest she fell into the vile blood, her body making a slight thunk sound and her voice itched out a small oof. Forcing herself onto her knees she looked up at naraku.

It clicked almost at once. He was a half demon and so he had to change into a human. Shakily she got to her feet and took a few hesitant steps closer to his head. Stepping over the last demon in her way she finished concentrating on her footing and looked up. She was face to face with her most feared enemy, and he was sleeping.

With closer inspection, as she leaned in towards his face, the only remaining piece of humanity inside this _thing_ that sat in front of her, she saw the tears streaming from his eyes. Compassion flew out to him, her heart aching to heal his hurt. Unconsciously her pale fingers flew from her side and rested on his cheek, slowly and cautiously moving to wipe the tears from his closed eyes.

Unnoticed to the young miko's closed eyes, naraku slowly opened eyes bathed in silver. Observing the small bloody girl in front of him that dared reach out to comfort him, his mind raced over ways to bring her down, to tear his heart away from hers before it was too late. Under her soft stroking hand naraku started purring.

As his purring reached her ears, her hand froze, responding with stiffness. Her eyes opened and locked with his. He unconsciously growled as her hand drew away from his skin and his demons lashed out, locking her around the waist and pulling her off the ground but no farther from naraku.

For the first time, fear radiated in her eyes.


	3. the cleansing of a soul

_Malicious Game_

_BY: littlemiko_

_Chapter 2_

His eyes.

She had never seen such a sight as the omniscient red tipped eyes in front of her. She felt stripped of the feeble garment clothing her like he could see right through her.

She was gapping at him she knew it but couldn't stop.

The demon surrounding her tightened its hold on her stomach, squeezing the very last living breath from her. Her vision started to grow grey as the hold loosened and she was placed precariously onto her feet once more. She was swaying dangerously but she couldn't feel herself. The last thing she saw was naraku again in humanoid form catching her as she fell.

She wanted to resist. To hit, push, pull, and kick as he pulled her blood-spattered form up against his bare one. But there was no will left in her tortured body to do anything in resistance. Her sight faded into blackness, but she could hear his smooth velvety voice chuckling as his bare feet slid onto the stairs.

In her mind she could visualize the bloody footprints tapping their way with each footstep, never to be erased or be forgotten. Always there, the symbol of her defeat. There was no escaping now, no easy peaceful death. She felt humiliated like she never really tried her hardest. She could hear him turn and enter a room. She was being shifted and then, nothing.

The footsteps echoed away into the darkness. Her limbs were strewn tight like bowstrings and, relax as she wanted to, she couldn't for the pain was hanging perilously on the edge of her mind, waiting for the drop and the sharp rocks below.

She started breathing again the harsh forced sound of her strained lungs trying to take the crisp air into her or die trying. Slowly she tried to lower herself onto the ground, relaxing her back and stomach muscles before letting her arms go. Pain washed over her mind like the ocean over sand. And then it was gone.

Footsteps tread their way lightly to her. She could hear the woosh of fabric as it kneeled down calmly placing what sounded like a basin next to her. Bubbles erupted from the dry cloth's plea to stay dry the waterfall coming shortly after. She still couldn't see anything but she knew that it was naraku as soon as his hand touched her forehead.

The wet towel soothed her pounding headache but it did nothing to quell the anxious beating of her heart. The sticky residue of blood and water on her forehead was left to dry as the cloth proceeded its journey down her face over her caked lips and to her throat. She tried to speak then, to get at least some say into what was going on around her before the scarce drops of warm water were totally evaporated into her parched throat.

"No." was all she got out in the feeble form of a whisper before her throat closed up again desperate for water.

She tried to swallow but there was nothing in her mouth. She felt like gagging, and the thought of it made her cringe. She was filthy inside and out caked in blood and dirt, being cleaned by a monster, and actually enduring it. Thinking this made her headache come back and the temperature in the room increase ten-fold.

She forced a suppressed whimper out until it was lost in her heavy exhale. Pale forms moved onto the farthest reaches of her eyes. Her mind grabbed a hold of them in an act of total desperation. Her head was pounding to the fast-paced rhythm of her heart making her dizzy.

Everything finally came into focus as she found Naraku's cold face staring indifferently down at her. Then he looked away and dropped the blood consumed rag back into the fresh water making delicate ripples of cherry blood slowly moving to consume the whole basin.

Kagome strained her eyes towards it and glared at the now tainted water. The heavy thought of drinking it anyway passed through her mind before it was roughly banished though she could feel the after effect of it in her throat. She laid her head softly back down onto the floor not even realizing that she had pulled it up in her agony.

Her heavily lidded eyes started to droop as the drugged scent of the water washed over her. 'it's a good thing I didn't drink it anyway.' Was her last thought as sheonce again fellinto sleep.

_hey everyone, i am sorry for the delay, my brother stole my mouse and hasn't given it back so this story has just sat on my computer oh well, i tried to take your advice and put this chapter into paragraphs but when i am correcting it i put breaks wherever i want sorry if this bugs you but i think it is easier on the eyes. thankx for the reviews_

_littlemiko_


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